zaphoid18
XS400 Enthusiast
Hi Everybody!
This intro has been a long time coming and I've been lurking around the site for far too long without one.
I've had my '79 XS400 for about two years, I bought her and a parts bike for $500 at the worst possible time (as far as most Canadian riders are concerned
) the end of September. So naturally my first experiences tinkering were in a frigid garage through to the end of October on the rare weekend I could get back home from university before storing it away for the season.
Initially the bike would run but barely, so my dad and I started working through the old mantra of fuel, air, fire. During the initial oil change I had my coffee can under and I watched as it filled fast with no sign of stopping, quickly tossed another under it. All said and done about 4 or 5 quarts came out of the case. The next day a lake of gas was around the bike. we suspected the left carb and after a cleaning everything was good. Though the air boxes were eaten away to nothing.
The other major problem affecting it was it only had four gears. trying to shift up from 4th to 5th wouldn't work. I feared bent forks but wasn't in a hurry to split the case. Well this summer I had it running and took her for a spin around my neighborhood, got it good and hot and revved it high went for 5th, and got it. now she shifts beautifully through all six, I'm pretty sure the plates were stuck from sitting.
It seems the more its ridden the better it gets and it self heals, go figure
I've done a lot of little things over time, most of which is thanks to having the second bike for both parts and practice.
Currently I've reached the point where solving a high idle after warm up (exhaustively researched on the site so I've got a pretty good jump off point) and new tires (i'm thinking Bridgestone S11's) are the major factors standing between being reliable. So come hell or high water it will be on the road this spring.
There's still a number of things to tackle as there always will be; like very stiff clutch (if I leave this like it is I'm going to end up looking very lopsided in a few months)
My plans for the bike are to do a soft restore and ride it like it is, I bought it because I liked the vintage styling then when its reliable I'd like to pick up something else for a cafe build. But of course plans change day to day.
But anyways thanks for all the help so far and I'm looking forward to jumping in when I can.
This intro has been a long time coming and I've been lurking around the site for far too long without one.
I've had my '79 XS400 for about two years, I bought her and a parts bike for $500 at the worst possible time (as far as most Canadian riders are concerned
) the end of September. So naturally my first experiences tinkering were in a frigid garage through to the end of October on the rare weekend I could get back home from university before storing it away for the season. Initially the bike would run but barely, so my dad and I started working through the old mantra of fuel, air, fire. During the initial oil change I had my coffee can under and I watched as it filled fast with no sign of stopping, quickly tossed another under it. All said and done about 4 or 5 quarts came out of the case. The next day a lake of gas was around the bike. we suspected the left carb and after a cleaning everything was good. Though the air boxes were eaten away to nothing.
The other major problem affecting it was it only had four gears. trying to shift up from 4th to 5th wouldn't work. I feared bent forks but wasn't in a hurry to split the case. Well this summer I had it running and took her for a spin around my neighborhood, got it good and hot and revved it high went for 5th, and got it. now she shifts beautifully through all six, I'm pretty sure the plates were stuck from sitting.
It seems the more its ridden the better it gets and it self heals, go figure
I've done a lot of little things over time, most of which is thanks to having the second bike for both parts and practice.
Currently I've reached the point where solving a high idle after warm up (exhaustively researched on the site so I've got a pretty good jump off point) and new tires (i'm thinking Bridgestone S11's) are the major factors standing between being reliable. So come hell or high water it will be on the road this spring.
There's still a number of things to tackle as there always will be; like very stiff clutch (if I leave this like it is I'm going to end up looking very lopsided in a few months)
My plans for the bike are to do a soft restore and ride it like it is, I bought it because I liked the vintage styling then when its reliable I'd like to pick up something else for a cafe build. But of course plans change day to day.
But anyways thanks for all the help so far and I'm looking forward to jumping in when I can.
